Before that, controversy broke out when many netizens thought that IVE’s hand gesture looked too similar to EVERGLOW’s one.
On December 3, Starship Entertainment, the management company of rookie girl group IVE, said: “We didn’t notice the similarity between IVE’s greeting gesture and previous combinations. So it will be modified in the future. We sincerely apologize for the related incidents. We will pay more attention, not to let the problem arise again.”
Earlier on December 1, IVE had a debut showcase. To introduce themselves, the members stood in front of the press and revealed their group introduction for the first time ever. The introduction begins with “Dive into IVE!” and also includes a hand gesture, where each member holds her three middle fingers sideways to represent the ‘E’ in IVE.
However, netizens quickly pointed out that EVERGLOW also uses a very similar hand gesture for their introductions. “Ready, all light!” begins EVERGLOW’s introduction, and the members use the same hand gesture – three fingers held sideways – when they say “Hello, we are EVERGLOW!”
Besides, IVE released their debut song at the same time as EVERGLOW released their 3rd mini album ‘Return of the Girl’ and title track “Pirate“. This caused more controversy when, before that, many people thought that the concept of IVE was quite similar to EVERGLOW.